Montréal: North America's Circus Capital Year-Round
The city is home to Cirque du Soleil, the National Circus School, and a thriving ecosystem of world-class performers.
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Montréal is the circus hub of North America, and it's not just because Cirque du Soleil happens to be headquartered here. The city has built an entire ecosystem of training, performance, and innovation around the art form that draws audiences from across the globe.
The Ecole nationale de cirque (National Circus School), established in 1981, enrolls more than 150 students from across Canada and around the world each year. The school trains creators, performing artists, and educators, and has been a pioneer of the new circus in Canada and North America. Many of the world's most renowned contemporary circus companies—Cirque du Soleil, Cirque Éloize, and The 7 Fingers—trace their roots back to the school's alumni and creative output.
In 1999, major circus players in Montréal joined forces to build the Cité des arts du cirque, a sprawling complex that houses TOHU (a unique 360-degree circular hall seating 1,200 spectators), Cirque du Soleil's offices and studios, the National Circus School, and En Piste, the national circus arts network.
Since its inception in 2004, TOHU has become unlike any other hall in North America. It features a permanent exhibition chronicling circus arts in Quebec, from their inception in Montréal in 1796 to international stardom. The venue also hosts the annual Montréal Complètement Cirque festival, created in 2010 as North America's first international festival dedicated exclusively to circus arts. Each July, over 10 days, the festival presents shows and events in venues and parks, on streets and sidewalks throughout the city.
Cirque du Soleil, founded in 1984, has multiple shows on tour around the globe, plus several productions in Las Vegas. The company also presents a show under the Big Top in the Old Port each spring and summer. Cirque Éloize, launched in 1993, now ranks among the world's leading contemporary circuses, with its creative studio housed in the historic Gare Dalhousie in Old Montréal. The 7 Fingers, founded in 2002, has shows touring the world.
The result is a city where the circus isn't just a spectacle—it's woven into the cultural fabric year-round.
